Woman sexually battered on SF State campus

A woman was sexually battered at San Francisco State University by an unidentified man Wednesday who followed her into a campus building and groped her, university officials said.

The woman was battered around 7 p.m. in the lobby of Burk Hall. In February, a woman was pulled into the bushes of a pathway along the same building and sexually assaulted with a sharp object, authorities said.

“Our primary concern right now is the victim and finding the suspect,” said Jonathan Morales, a spokesperson for the university. Morales could not comment on the frequency of sexual assaults in the area.

The latest assault follows a late September initiative from the District Attorney’s Office and Police Department to smooth communication between university officials and law enforcement while investigating reports of sexual assaults.

In this week’s incident, the woman was walking near the center of campus when a man struck up a conversation with her, followed her and — once in the Burk Hall lobby — battered her, according to an email from an SFSU Vice President Loulou Hong.

In the lobby of Burk Hall, the suspect grabbed her above the hips, “lifted her up and pressed his face against her stomach and breasts while he lowered her to the ground,” according to the email.

The suspect then sat her down on a bench in the lobby and kissed her face while holding her hand, the email said.

At some point, the woman was able to pull away and reach a nearby Muni platform, where she escaped the man by hopping on a bus. The man stayed behind.

The woman was not injured, authorities said. Her age was not released.

The suspect is described as a man in his early 20s wearing a dark green hoodie, authorities said. He’s about 6 feet tall, of slender build and a light complexion with brown eyes and brown hair.

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